January 12, 2011

I've always wanted to experiment with stiffened fabric, so I picked up a bottle of the aptly named Stiffen Stuff at Michaels.

I sprayed both sides of a piece of quilting weight fabric until it was thoroughly wet. And then, because I'm an impatient girl who gets fed up with air drying, I laid the fabric on a paper towel and microwaved it for 30 seconds. It came out crisp like a sheet of paper! I pressed it for a couple seconds with an iron to smooth out any bumps, and voila.

I actually used fabric stiffener for my wedding centerpieces! I used equal parts water and Elmer's glue, though. Works just like this stuff, but a WHOLE lot cheaper! http://twoweasinapod.blogspot.com/2009/06/center-of-attention.html

As a (mostly) papercrafter, this could get into a dangerously new obsessive way to create papery-yet-non-paper items to incorporate into projects...Jessica - does this stuff reek o'chemicals? Will have to try the Elmers and water method to boot(Thanks, HazelWea!)

This may reveal my age, but the project reminds me of "heavy starch." My engineer father wore starched, white shirts to work (white was required), every day for decades. Those shirts would stand up by themselves!

I've used many things to stiffen fabrics but haven't heard of this product yet. I'm going to check it out for sure. Do you know if it's a permanent stiff or dose humidity have an effect on it? It dose sound less messy then some of the things I've used which I like but need to check the chemical aspect out also. Love your Hearts, I do stars :)

Christenna, not sure about the humidity aspect. I haven't taken a shower near one of my projects yet, and our apartment is super dry in winter. There's no ingredient list on the bottle, but it says non-toxic and non-flammable.

Awesome, can't wait to try this out. I'm going to Michael's right now to pick some up. Have you tried using this on fabric and then cutting it on the Silhouette? Just wondering if that would work. That would open up more possibilities.

Hi Gleenda, I haven't tried cutting any fabric since this project, because I then learned from someone at Silhouette customer support that cutting fibrous materials like fabric can destroy your blade. So it's not worth it to me to possibly wreck my machine or have to buy expensive new blades!

Jess, I think I read that too when I first got my Silhouette last year. But did you see the latest new product from Silhouette America: sewable fabric interfacinghttp://www.silhouetteamerica.com/fabric.aspx

Gleenda, I wrote to Silhouette support to ask why their FAQ still says "We do not officially claim the Silhouette is able to cut fabrics" yet their homepage has a big picture that says "Cut a variety of materials... now fabric."

Very interesting. So I suppose they are changing their tune. The SA rep in the video link I sent earlier from CHA stated that fabric actually harms the blade less than cutting thicker cardstock. Curious to know how their interfacing paper differs from something like heat n bond.Anyway, will be toying with the Stiffen spray today since we are snowed in with the blizzard and have a snow day off from work. Whoo-hoo! Stay warm and safe!

I love LOVE love your site. I recently just moved into my 1st apt and on I a decorating budget. I was looking for diy projects and your site came up on google. Thank you so very much for being the creative genius that you are!

I am trying to make pillowcase fabric not shift around so that little girls can draw on them with fabric markers. Would stiffening them with the water-glue mix or this stiff stuff work for that? Before I found this blog post I was going to stick pieces of cardboard inside them. Thanks for any advice...Amanda

I'd go with the cardboard. You could tape the pillowcase to it with masking tape. This stiffener will be too expensive to use in the large quantities you'd need, plus you probably don't really want a stiff pillowcase as your end result, right?

Hi Vishruti, yes, you can just let the fabric air dry instead of heating it. According to the bottle, dry time is about 1 hour. And yes, if you wet or wash the fabric, it will return to its normal limp self.